CHANDIGARH: Punjap cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday asked Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh to take a call on the recovery of alleged tax evasion to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore by Fastway Transmissions Private Limited, a company that had the alleged patronage of the Badals during the SAD-BJP rule.
Sidhu further hinted that chief minister had wished he would go a little slow on the issue. Sidhu added that he will ask the chief minister to table the matter in the cabinet meeting scheduled for August 4.
Sidhu quoted the rough figures provided by Supreme Court advocate Vineet Bhagat and said Fastway had not been paying entertainment duty to the state. The Punjab government levies Rs 50 as entertainment tax per television connection from state cable operators.
Calculating the impact of the revenue loss to the government taking into account a figure of 40 lakh connections of Fastway (as mentioned in the report of Competition Commission of India of 2012), it would come to Rs 1,440 crores, which instead of finding its way to government exchequer was diverted to the pockets of private persons, Sidhu said.
“This is a consolidated figure for tax loss impact from 2010 to 2016, the actual figure may go up to Rs 20,000 Crore, he added.